With the onset of autumn (such that it is), the white-tailed spiders are maintaining a low profile. I haven't seen one about the house for ages. In fact, the Snail Shell has been largely arachnid-free for days now. Nary a spider to be seen, inside or out.Until today, that is, when I noticed a daddy-long-legs (Pholcidae) doing a Hannibal Lecter on a Dindymus that had wandered into the kitchen. I had presumed that the bug's vivid coloration was a warning to predators, aposematic coloration advertising a toxic payload. (Certainly, these bugs flaunt themselves in a way that suggests they don't care if they're spotted.) But the spider wasn't bothered. It had wrapped its victim in a silk straight jacket and was slurping up the digested proteins.
